San Antonio @ Sacramento preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 6, 2019 ) Sacramento 104, San Antonio 105

The annual Rodeo Road Trip has not been kind to the San Antonio Spurs this time around, and they'll aim for their first victory of the stretch when they visit the Sacramento Kings on Saturday. After sweeping a two-game homestand, the Spurs have lost the first three legs of the eight-game trip, including Thursday's 125-117 setback in Portland.

Center Trey Lyles was a bright spot with a season-high 23 points to go along with 10 rebounds while making 9-of-11 shots. "It took me a little bit while longer than I expected to get comfortable (in San Antonio)," Lyles told reporters. "I just continue to be myself, not settle, just find my niche where I could help impact on the court." The Kings improved to 5-2 over their last seven games with a 105-97 win over the Miami Heat on Friday. Three players hit at least five 3-pointers and Sacramento was 19-of-44 from long range as a team while improving to 2-1 on its four-game homestand.

TIME: 10 p.m. ET. TV: FS Southwest, NBCS California, TSN1

ABOUT THE SPURS (22-29): Guard DeMar DeRozan was just 6-of-16 from the floor in Thursday's loss but he managed to reach the 20-point mark for the 22nd time in the last 24 games. LaMarcus Aldridge also hit 20 points at Portland while struggling to hit 9-of-23 shots, leaving him 12-of-33 over the last two contests. Point guard Dejounte Murray has also endured some shooting woes during the trip, recording a 1-for-7 showing twice in the three games.

ABOUT THE KINGS (20-31): Nemanja Bjelica hit 5-of-6 3-pointers, Bogdan Bogdanovic was 6-of-13 and Buddy Hield made 5-of-13 to lead the barrage from beyond the arc in Friday's win. Bjelica also handed out eight assists to tie his season high and had six rebounds, one shy of Hield's team high. "We wanted him on the court as much as possible tonight, whether he was shooting threes and stretching (the floor) or playing in the middle distributing," coach Luke Walton told reporters of Bjelica.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Spurs PG Patty Mills had 14 points in 21 minutes Thursday after being held to three on 1-of-8 shooting two nights earlier in a loss at the Los Angeles Lakers.

2. Kings PG De'Aaron Fox is averaging 26.3 points over his last four games.

3. San Antonio took the first meeting this season after losing all three in 2018-19.

PREDICTION: Spurs 110, Kings 108